Thankgiving the day after....

     So by now Thanksgiving is over, but did you use your turkey wisely?  I am writing to give you a few pointers on next years bird or maybe even your Christmas turkey if you do one.  First of all you need to cook and make that lovely bird for your family.  When all the family is passed out on the couch, grab that carcass and throw it in the crock pot.  Fill it with water, spices, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, and a whole bunch of veggie scraps.  Oh you don't have scraps you say?..where did you get those??

Side Note:  
Well if you haven't been already you need to be saving these sort of things.  As you cut up celery, carrots, onions you always you will have those end pieces that you don't eat.  Don't throw them away! Scrub them up the best you can and throw them in a freezer bag.  They keep for a long time in there.  Then when you need to make a broth you have those veggie scraps to use.

     Ok back on topic.  So now that you have the carcass, veggies, and all the spices including salt, then you let that cook overnight in your crock pot on low.  The vinegar will help leach out the calcium from the bones.  You end up the next day with an awesome broth!  
     So now you have this broth....so now what...well you definitely don't feel like doing a bunch of cooking and you have this extra turkey sitting around everywhere...so you make this delicious soup.

A few years ago a friend of mine Kathy (hi Kathy) gave me this recipe. It is a very light fall soup and is wonderful with a slice of homemade bread. The title is a little misleading on the veggy part. I used frozen cabbage from my garden and waited on the black pepper until after I added it to my broth. I also after the sauté placed everything in the crock pot to "simmer".

Chicken (or Turkey) Vegetable Soup 

2 tsp olive oil
2 C. cooked, chopped chicken (turkey)
2 C. chopped cabbage (frozen is fine)
2 C. sliced mushrooms
1 diced onion (again frozen is fine)
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp basil
1 tsp black pepper
8 C chicken broth

In a pan sauté cabbage, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and chicken in olive oil until cabbage is soft. Add basil and pepper, cook 2-3 minutes. Add Chicken broth and simmer.

Hope you all enjoy!

Kefir Icecream

I dont think I've posted this so if I have oh well you get to see it again!  This recipe was originally for Vanilla Ice cream but vanilla is too plain so I am doing cherry.  If you want vanilla you will just leave out the cherries and juice and will have to play with the sugar amounts. 
Ok here we go..Cherry Kefir Icecream!

1. Gather all your ingredients.  You will need an empty ice cream container, about 5 cups of milk kefir, a jar of Maraschino Cherries, 1 cup of sugar, one 16 fl oz container of Heavy Whipping cream, and Vanilla extract (which I forgot to when I took the picture)

2. Pour your kefir into the empty ice cream container.

3. Pour your Whipping Cream in next. And add 2 tsps of vanilla extract.

4.  Pour the juice of the cherries in and then add 1 cup of sugar.

5. Chop the Cherries into small pieces

6. Add them to your mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until the sugar seems dissolved. 

7. Taste the mixture to be sure you've added enough sugar. It should be a little on the sweet side but not too sweet.  Place in the freezer and stir throughout the day.  This will be a hard icecream.  If you have an icecream maker that would be better but I"m cheap and that is a frivolous buy in my household.  I usually let mine sit on the table for about 15 minutes before we eat it and it will break apart with a spoon.

Kefir icecream has a bite to it.  Some like it (all of us in our house) and some do not.  It is a great probiotic to add to your diet.  Hope you enjoy it!